Rites and symbols of initiation : the mysteries of birth and rebirth

Trans. from the French Naissances mystiques by Willard R. Trask. 1st pub. by Harper and Brothers in 1958 as Birth and Rebirth.

'Professor Eliade takes one particular subject, the almost universal prevalence in human culture of some form of initiatory rite and custom, and treats it in a way that is at once scholarly and interpretative. We find in his book not merely a collection of data but also a profound and insightful attempt to get, so to speak, under the skin of the data, and to discern the underlying meaning and purpose of initiation.'

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